Holiday Travel Fee Just a Myth

Despite the fact that it has been reported in several places that airlines will begin to charge some sort of “holiday travel fee” to gouge fliers at peak travel times, these reports have turned out to be misinformed. Airlines will not be charging any sort of surprise holiday travel fees, as such fees would violate federal regulations.

This essentially means that, contrary to several news reports, airlines will not be able to charge you more than the price you booked your flight at the last minute because of an arbitrary fee. However, airfare might end up being more expensive for surcharges added to the fare at the time of purchase, which many airlines already add for things like fuel.

These surcharges are functionally no different than if these airlines had just raised their fares without any explanation of where the additional payment was going. Despite the fact that there will be no surprise charges, airfare will still be more expensive this holiday season than it was last season because of the airlines’ struggles to maintain profitability.

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